Madrid, Spain -
Conference of the Spanish Presidency of the
Committee of Ministers on "Controlling Electoral
Processes", in co-operation with the Centre for
Constitutional and Political Studies --
24/04/2009 - 25/04/2009

Chisinau, Moldova -
Legal Advice to the Parliamentary Assembly in
the context of the Parliamentary elections
-- 02/04/2009 -
06/04/2009

Kocani,
"the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia" - Seminar of the Skopje
School of Politics concerning the situation
of the country during and post the elections,
organised of the Political Affairs Directorate of
the Council of Europe -- 26/03/2009 -
29/03/2009

Skopje, "the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"
-

Legal Advice to the
Parliamentary Assembly in the context of the
presidential elections of 22 March --
13/03/-
23/03/2009

Chisinau,
Moldova - Capacity-building programme for
the Central Election Commission -
international expert in electoral matters aiming
at assisting the electoral administration on legal
and technical issues in the context of the
Parliamentary elections -- 17/03/2009 -
9/04/2009

"We
are credible outside Europe because we are a
part of the Council of Europe as a value-based
organisation. But, we are also credible because
we are a legal body and not a political one, and
because we are independent. However, for our
opinions to be followed, we cannot only rely on
our reputation but we need the good will of
member states, the support by the political
bodies of the Council of Europe and of the
general public, well-informed by the media."

Jan Helgesen, President
of the Venice Commission,

Committee of Ministers of the
Council of Europe, 27 May
2009

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE
79th SESSION

The impact of electoral
systems on women's representation in politics

Following a request of the Committee on
equal opportunities for women and men of the
Parliamentary Assembly, the Commission adopted a
report on the impact of electoral systems on
women's representation in politics (CDL-AD(2009)029).

This
report concludes that there are a wide variety
of socio-economic, cultural and political
factors that can hamper or facilitate women's
access to parliament.

Among the
institutional factors, both the electoral system
and gender quotas can strongly influence women's
parliamentary representation. Among other
factors favourable to women's representation
are:

district size ( number of seats per
district);

party "size" (i.e. number of seats per
party);

thresholds (excluding small parties).

In addition, it shouldn't be forgotten
that the electoral systems aim to fulfil a
number of objectives, and women's representation
may oppose some of them (e.g.: the most
proportional representation
possible).

Increased use of private
military and security firms

In its report CDL-AD(2009)038 the Venice
Commission addressed the questions raised by the
increased use of private military and security
firms (PMSCs) in the light of the proposals made
by the Parliamentary Assembly in its
Recommendation 1858(2009), which calls for the
elaboration of a new instrument on this matter.

The Venice Commission considers that some
of the issues taken up by the PACE - while
undoubtedly of international concern - are not
appropriate for inclusion in a Council of Europe
treaty. Other parts of the PACE recommendation
could form the basis of future treaty
provisions. However, a Council of Europe treaty
on the subject of PMSCs would, at the present
time, be very time-consuming and problematic to
draft. Nonetheless, certain of the issues
taken up by the PACE are suitable subjects for a
Committee of Ministers recommendation, such as
the invitation to the CoE member states to
review:

national laws dealing with
registration/licensing of PMSCs, to see if these
provide a proper degree of regulation of the
extraterritorial activities of PMSCs,

criminal legislation to determine whether
there is jurisdiction over serious offences
committed by personnel of PMSCs and

civil law systems to determine whether it is
possible to make claims for damages for
extraterritorial civil wrongdoing against PMSCs
incorporated in the
state.

Ukraine -- Opinion on
constitutional reform

The Commission adopted, at the request of
the Permanent Representation of Ukraine to the
Council of Europe, an opinion on the proposal of
President Yushchenko for a new version of the
Constitution (CDL-AD(2009)024).

The draft provides clear
improvements both with respect to
previous drafts and to the current Constitution.
These improvements are particularly apparent
with respect to the provisions on the
judiciary and the prosecution service.
The draft abandons a number of questionable
provisions of the current Constitution,
e.g. on

the formalised majority coalition in the
Verkhovna Rada,

the so-called imperative mandate,

the double responsibility of the Cabinet of
Ministers to the President and to the Verkhovna
Rada and

the distinction between ministers appointed
on the proposal of the President and ministers
appointed on the proposal of the Prime Minister.

Advantages and drawbacks of establishment
of a second chamber have to be weighed
carefully.

Other proposed
amendments receive a more critical
assessment. The requirement that all
constitutional amendments require a
referendum risks making the
Constitution excessively rigid and the expansion
of direct democracy at the national level may
compromise political stability. Changes with
respect to the position of the Autonomous
Republic of Crimea tend to decrease the
autonomy.

Finally, although the draft
describes the powers of the state organs more
precisely and removes a number of sources
of tensions between them, it is not
evident that the draft attains its main aim of
putting an end to the constant institutional
conflicts between the President and the
Cabinet of Ministers.

Political parties: the
imperative mandate and "recall" practice

The imperative mandate and "recall" are
procedures through which citizens have the right
to revoke or replace an elected official before
the end of his/her mandate. This concept of
imperative mandate is widely rejected in
democracies although some countries have used
this institution to try to solve a particular
problem (the "political nomadism" or
"floor-crossing", the defection of a political
party or change of affiliation).

The
report CDL-AD(2009)027 concludes
that at present, the imperative mandate and the
"recall" is not practiced in European countries.
The Commission has repeatedly argued that the
disqualification of a representative capacity
for changing of his/her political affiliation
violates the principle of a free and independent
mandate. Even if the purpose of such measures
(i.e. to prevent an elected member to "sell"
his/her mandate to the highest bidder) may be
treated with some understanding, the fundamental
constitutional principle that prohibits any
practice aimed at depriving a representative of
his/her mandate, should prevail as a cornerstone
of the European democratic constitutionalism.

The document CDL-AD(2009)31 summarises
more developed guidelines adopted previously by,
inter alia, OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission
(CDL-AD(2005)032). It aims at
giving tools for analysing how media can
influence the electoral process. It focuses on
the following issues:

voters' right to receive information;

candidates' right to impart information;

the media's freedom of expression.

In particular, it examines
issues such as news coverage, free airtime and
paid advertising.

COMMISSION AND THE
MEDIA

"Electoral engineering as an
engine of democracy through elections" -
Interview with Gianni
Buquicchio

On 16-17
July the Expert Seminar on the role of
Electoral Management Bodies in ensuring the
conformity of electoral processes with the OSCE
and the Council of Europe commitments was held
in Vienna. The Venice Commission is invited to
participate in this event.

On this
occassion Secretary of the Venice
Commission Gianni Buquicchio gave an interview.

Adoption of the Commission's
Annual Report of activities by the Committee of
Ministers of the Council of Europe
--27/05/2009

Strasbourg,
Palais de l'Europe - "If we have a worldwide
financial crisis, then worldwide rule of law
should be part of the answer", - said Jan
Helgesen, President of the Venice Commission of
the Council of Europe, presenting its annual
report to the Committee of Ministers of the
Council of Europe.

Strasbourg, 02.04.2009 - On the
occasion of the NATO
Summit (Strasbourg, 3-4 April 2009)
Secretary of the Venice Commission Gianni
Buquicchio gave an interview on the subject of
democratic control of the armed
forces.

A full
report, which considers all the forms of
control over armed forces in Europe, was adopted
by the Commission in 2008.

Brazil brings the "population" of
the Venice Commission to 1.2 billion -
01/04/2009

The Committee of Ministers of the Council
of Europe agreed on 1 April 2009 to let
Brazil join the Venice Commission.

Since
2002, when the Venice Commission became an
enlarged agreement allowing non-European
countries to become full members, 9 states have
joined the Commission: Kyrgyzstan (2004) , Chile
(2005) , the Republic of Korea (2006), Morocco
and Algeria (2007), Israel and Tunisia (2008),
Peru and Brazil (2009). The membership of Brazil
brings the number of the member states to 56 and
the population "covered" by the expertise of the
Commission close to 1.2 billion
people.

Ankara -
In co-operation with the Constitutional Court of
Turkey, the Commission organises the 4th
Conference of Secretaries General of
Constitutional Courts -- 01/10/2009
- 02/10/2009

Yerevan - XIVth
International Yerevan Conference in co-operation
with the Constitutional Court of Armenia and the
International Association of Constitutional Law
on "The interaction between constitutional
courts and parliaments in guaranteeing the
supremacy of the Constitution" --
01/10/2009 -
03/10/2009

Opinions and studies under
preparation:

Opinions
concerning:

Azerbaijan - draft law on
obtaining of the information on activities of
the courts

Bulgaria - Draft law on
normative acts

Georiga - Law on
Constitutional Reform and Amendments to the Laws
on Assemblies and Manifestations

Human Rights Review Mechanisms of
Kosovo

Kyrgyzstan - draft law on
political parties

Latvia - amendments to
the law on the Constitutional Court

Luxemburg - Constitutional
Reform

Moldova - Draft Law on
Status of Euroregions

Montenegro - draft law on
prohibition of discrimination and law on
ombudsman

Turkey - legislation on
religious communities

Ukraine- draft law on
presidential elections

Studies on:

Independence of judiciary

Role of opposition

Cansellation of the elections results

Internationally recognised status of
election observers : Guidelines

Individual access to constitutional
justice

In
conclusion...

The Secretariat of
the Venice Commission wishes you a nice summer
break!

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